Waits on the 'It's not in color, there's no back light, I can do more on my ___insert favorite gadget that also reads eBook files here___" folks to step up to the plate. Missing of course the entire point of e-ink once again.
This is a great step forward for those of us that do get it. Can't wait to see what applications become available with this new achievement; textbooks, (school kids will have it soo much better than we did carrying around 50#'s of books between classes...) 500 different cookbooks on a thin screen that can be clipped to a cabinet to clear up workspace... Researchers that can carry hundreds of reference books at any given time...
Why is there no backlight? My iPod touch can do all of this AND it plays movies, displays ebooks etc. I really don't see the point of e-ink, it's not even in colour.
Uh... are you guys serious? They have to start somewhere. Someday our newspapers will be made of this stuff and they'll just hook up to our Wi-Fi and download the latest news. Usually new products go from grayscale to color, remember, it's called "innovation" and it has to start somewhere, duh. If NEC didn't come out with grayscale and start marketing that, they wouldn't have the extra cash to research how to do it in color. That's kind of a given guys, at least in my head it is.
We're not knocking the technology, we're just saying it's completely pointless - the colour one as well. Why bother with this when you can just get a screen out of an iPod touch and be done with it?
@ign,
That's a number sign. He was using it to indicate the number of books. It's the same as writing "...carrying around 50 numbers of books...". At least, i'm sure that's what he meant. You should consider de options before blasting someone's grammar.
Uhh, this symbol: # is commonly referred to as "pound sign" on every phone menu you've ever called. They call it this because, in the "old days" it was short hand for "pound" or "pounds".
Because the iPod touch screen is backlit. Reading from a backlit screen for a long time hurts your eyes. However, reading from e-ink does not. This is why it is a better replacement for real paper.
The Symbol # has several names, some confusing. The most common is probably 'hash'.
In the US it is sometimes called the 'pound sign' and used as a symbol for pounds weight, but this confuses the British, for whom a pound sign is £. In music, of course, it is a 'sharp'. The picturesque name 'octothorpe' has also been introduced: it is said to have been invented by an employee of Bell Laboratories in the 1960s, in honour of the American athlete Jim Thorpe. In the large form in which it appears on modern telephones it is sometimes called 'square'.
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Waits on the 'It's not in color, there's no back light, I can do more on my ___insert favorite gadget that also reads eBook files here___" folks to step up to the plate. Missing of course the entire point of e-ink once again.
This is a great step forward for those of us that do get it. Can't wait to see what applications become available with this new achievement; textbooks, (school kids will have it soo much better than we did carrying around 50#'s of books between classes...) 500 different cookbooks on a thin screen that can be clipped to a cabinet to clear up workspace... Researchers that can carry hundreds of reference books at any given time...
Can't wait!
Why is there no backlight? My iPod touch can do all of this AND it plays movies, displays ebooks etc. I really don't see the point of e-ink, it's not even in colour.
(/troll)
Good point, Damo.
Someone should have told NEC before they wasted their time on this.
Uh... are you guys serious? They have to start somewhere. Someday our newspapers will be made of this stuff and they'll just hook up to our Wi-Fi and download the latest news. Usually new products go from grayscale to color, remember, it's called "innovation" and it has to start somewhere, duh. If NEC didn't come out with grayscale and start marketing that, they wouldn't have the extra cash to research how to do it in color. That's kind of a given guys, at least in my head it is.
Did you seriously just write "50#'s" in an attempt to communicate weight? I think you've just taken poor grammar to exciting new levels.
@Bob,
We're not knocking the technology, we're just saying it's completely pointless - the colour one as well. Why bother with this when you can just get a screen out of an iPod touch and be done with it?
@ign,
That's a number sign. He was using it to indicate the number of books. It's the same as writing "...carrying around 50 numbers of books...". At least, i'm sure that's what he meant. You should consider de options before blasting someone's grammar.
eh, whatever at the e-ink, is that Lightwave there in the picture? dont see that used often enough
@puff,
just as likely that he was using it to stand for lbs, since it is the pound sign...?
@Ana,
Wha? Lb-sign? It's a hash, and well you know it. It wouldn't make any sense otherwise.
@chefgon_ign-
Uhh, this symbol:
#
is commonly referred to as "pound sign" on every phone menu you've ever called. They call it this because, in the "old days" it was short hand for "pound" or "pounds".
@J_g_puff
Because the iPod touch screen is backlit. Reading from a backlit screen for a long time hurts your eyes. However, reading from e-ink does not. This is why it is a better replacement for real paper.
And finally, I'll be able to sit and work at a bar and look more like James Joyce than Bill Gates.
chefgon_ign and a few others FYI:
The Symbol # has several names, some confusing. The most common is probably 'hash'.
In the US it is sometimes called the 'pound sign' and used as a symbol for pounds weight, but this confuses the British, for whom a pound sign is £. In music, of course, it is a 'sharp'. The picturesque name 'octothorpe' has also been introduced: it is said to have been invented by an employee of Bell Laboratories in the 1960s, in honour of the American athlete Jim Thorpe. In the large form in which it appears on modern telephones it is sometimes called 'square'.
(http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutsymbols/hashsymbol)
Obviously I misjudged my attempt at humour.
I am very excited by the e-ink developments.
Not even a grin though? No?